The AEC-SMS Working Group (WG) on Diversity, Identity and Inclusiveness is currently preparing an online publication, entitled How are ‘diverse cultures’ integrated in the education of musicians across Europe?. The publication will present relevant case studies of how Higher Music Educations Institutions (HMEIs) can open up to new social groups including minorities (ethnic, sexual, etc.) as well as other backgrounds not normally represented in their educational offer and policies while retaining high artistic standards. This also includes how to integrate students and faculty with physical impairments (e.g. being blind) and / or mental health challenges (e.g. depression, attention deficit disorders, psychological issues).

Another central aspect of the WG’s work focuses on how such practices enable the engagement of HMEIs with new audiences and thus anchor the institutions more broadly in today’s highly diverse societies. A further question in the WG is to examine the power relationships present in the institutions and what changes might be necessary in order to make the institutions more welcoming and open to students and faculty.

In order to broaden their scope the WG has issued an open call to collect contributions from AEC members. You are kindly invited to submit a proposal for a contribution to the publication on topics such as:

  • what is your institution doing to open up to new groups in society?
  • how does your institution deal with different physical impairments and mental health challenges?
  • how are degree programs (re-)evaluated based on changes to potential applicants’ changing musical backgrounds? What changes have been made to reflect the changing background of the student body?
  • how are bridges created between musical genres and study programmes both within the institution as well as between institutions?
  • how does your institution deal with power relations and forms of discrimination?
These contributions can be based on a specific project or more broadly, on the institution’s policies. They can also reflect possible challenges and hurdles the institution faced as well as reflect on the outcomes.

If you like to submit a contribution to the publication, you are kindly invited to get in touch with AEC Office (Jef Cox, Diversity WG Coordinator) or the WG Chair (Prof. Dr. David-Emil Wickström) by 31 March 2019. The final contribution should be around 1000 words at the most.